“I just felt something hit me. I was awake, but I couldn’t feel my head.”
|||Durban - While the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Durban campus was calm on Thursday after protests, a 20-year-old chemical engineering student, Philani Mabaso, was still being treated for a head injury at King Edward VIII hospital.
Mabaso was hurt when students protested against a lack of decent accommodation.
Speaking softly, he recalled how a blow to his head while he was standing in a crowd knocked him to the ground.
“I just felt something hit me. I was awake, but I couldn’t feel my head,” he said.
Mabaso claims security guards shot him with a rubber bullet. Although he did not see the shooter, fellow students told him what happened.
The university has denied this. “There were no shots fired during the protest action. A student was injured by a rock thrown by protesting students,” said university spokeswoman Nomonde Mbadi.
“We are deeply concerned that a student sustained injuries and we reiterate that management is committed to peaceful dialogue, and any violence is strongly condemned.”
Student leader Mandla Sithole said the students had met the university management to discuss the issues.
The Mercury